Carte-de-visite head and shoulders photograph of the Grand Duchess Helena of Russia, in a vignette format. She is shown from a frontal viewpoint and turns her head towards the right of the image. Her hair is covered by a lace headscarf, decorated with flowers and ribbons. She is wearing a dark coloured silk dress, embellished with faceted beading on the bodice and pinned at the neck with a white round jewelled brooch.

She was born in Stuttgart as Princess Friederike Charlotte Marie of Württemberg, eldest daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1823, she was received into the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Elena Pavlovna.

In 1824 she married Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia and the couple had five daughters. In 1849, on the death of her husband, she became a notable patron of charities and the arts. She founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire as well as establishing the foundations of the Red Cross in Russia.